Adapted from: Wrestling Through Adversity

With the rise in the diagnosis of ADHD and the increase in prescriptions hitting record highs, scientists are wrestling with fundamental questions about the way it is defined and how we treat it. According to the CDC, more than 15 percent of American adolescents have been diagnosed with ADHD, including 23 percent of boys 17 years of age. Recent studies have rocked the world because assumptions about ADHD have been shaken with a new understanding of the role of the environment, as scientists seek to help those struggling to focus without the use of potentially addictive stimulants.

Below are the five takeaways of the new research and comments on it presented by Paul Tough in his article in The New York Times Magazine on April 13, 2025, which places the old paradigm in question and beliefs about ADHD under scrutiny in the 21^st century.

1. ADHD is hard to define, and recent science has made it harder, not easier.

As with other mental disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), researchers believed that they were on the verge of ending the controversy over ADHD by finding a distinct biomarker or a physical difference or evidence in the brain that you could spot on an MRI. This means, in part, that ADHD is not a medical condition you have or don’t have or something you have for life. It is fluid.

2. Adderall and Ritalin can have positive effects on a child’s behavior, but the results often don’t last.

In research, after 14 months the quick fix of a daily dose of Ritalin did a better job of reducing symptoms than a nondrug treatment like therapy or coaching. However, after 36 months, the symptoms of the medication group were no better than no intervention at all.

3. The medications can improve students’ behavior in the classroom, but they don’t seem to help them learn.

Researchers have shown that children on medication such as Adderall, a stimulant with a high potential for abuse and drug dependance, are working harder and faster, but when taking a test, it showed that they did not learn anything more or earn higher scores. This misleading comment resulted in a Federal false-claim lawsuit against Shire Pharmaceuticals with a $56.5 million penalty.

4. There is no clear dividing line between those who have ADHD and those who don’t.

On one end of the spectrum are children who could probably get an ADHD diagnosis but might do fine without one. At the other extreme, there might be symptoms of severe anger from Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) that accrued in the environment, which resulted in “ADHD” symptoms, that is, lack of focus, that are hard to control without meds.

5. Changing a child’s environment can change his or her symptoms.

Parents have been led to believe that ADHD is a permanent malfunction of the brain, when it might be a temporary one. ADHD is primarily thought of as a medical condition that is treated by medication, such as Adderall and Ritalin (Schedule II Narcotics).Now we are switching to an environmental focus as a solution that warrants more investigation into viable drug-free options, such as behavioral conditioning. This focus runs counter to the profitable Big Pharma and ADHD multi-billion-dollar industrial complex.

There are major obstacles to overcome to find new environmental solutions

Major obstacles for us currently are that if ADHD is not considered a “real diagnosable disorder” or a “real disease” in the medical model that is listed in the DSM, how will the organizations that support ADHD as a disability be funded? How will healthcare professionals diagnose and treat patients with medications, and how will healthcare professionals get paid for their services without a defined diagnosis found in the manual when there are no other acceptable diagnostic options available?

We in US society are in a quandary as to what to do to help our children help themselves grow without drugs. Since I have published a book, Wrestling Through Adversity: Empowering Children, Teens, & Young Adults to Win in Life and have included a chapter on ADHD, I propose that there are ways for our children to be taught resilience acquisition and to use their high energy wisely drug free. One example is cited here as a case story of Lawrence, a high school wrestler, to whom I taught Mindful Toughness ® skillsets to win.

Lawrence’s Case Story: Mind Over Mat

As a 17-year-old wrestler, Lawrence was a junior in high school and had a goal of becoming a National Prep Champion. At that point in time, he had only won a district championship one time. His coach did not know how to handle him because of his focusing challenges. Lawrence’s lack of focus the coach said, was “off the charts,” and he referred to him as a “basket case.” These comments were indicative of how the coach felt helpless, as well. “It would be a miracle if you could help him,” the coach reiterated.

Lawrence had this reputation because he came to school as a transfer student with a diagnosis of ADHD from an early age. Up to that time, he had taken drugs, such as Ritalin, for many years, and he did not feel they helped him, nor did he like the way medication made him feel so he stopped taking them.

The coach described a scenario that was not conducive for focusing prior to a match, in which Lawrence would not sit or stand still or listen to directions or instructions from him pre-match. Instead, he would spend much of his high energy jumping around the mat until he was exhausted before he walked onto it to compete. By then, his “soda pop” had already fizzled out. His parents requested that I work with Lawrence to improve his focus, especially since he came off drugs and never learned behavioral conditioning such as “Mindful Toughness” ® skillsets so he could calm down and focus automatically when he was in the pressure cooker on the mat.

As a peak performance coach and clinical hypnosis expert, I worked several times with Lawrence prior to the National Prep tournament. My goal was to help him psycho-dynamically, that is, to transform his high energy—a precious commodity—into scoring opportunities. This was accomplished through a process called entrainment, which slowed down his physical reaction to stress with therapeutic music that decreased from a faster beat to a slower one.

I taught him how to get in the Zone with self-hypnosis and focusing and relaxation tools, such as circling his fingers on his non-dominant hand, Breathing Easy, mental rehearsal of his moves, and mental recall of when he won the districts previously. We used feedback loop analysis looking at what worked and what did not work to improve his performance.

In addition, I drew a makeshift dial on a paper plate with numbers written from one to ten, and I placed control of it in his own hands and within his mind’s eye. The ideal measure of control while competing was set at number five, for which he could give me a “high five.”

We worked on adjusting the imaginary dial before and during each match, where he could dial it down or up with triggers as needed, such as saying “Easy” to himself and “focus and score,” touching his headgear, as well as seeing and feeling himself with the imaginary dial in his mind while competing. I taught him how to call attention within himself and to stay in the present moment during matches.

After only three one-hour sessions, both parents were thrilled when they saw their son win the National Prep Championship, which was a big deal. They could not believe the changes he made within a short period of time of learning “how to get in the Zone on his own.”

The Proof is in the Pudding

At the time I worked with the individual needs of Lawrence who had the diagnosis of ADHD, although no longer on meds, I also worked with four other members of his team, who did not have a diagnosis. That year all five team members I worked with won their prep championships, propelling their high school to # 1 in the US for the first time. Since to the coach, who was a teacher at the school and believed that “the proof is in the pudding,” he referred my Hypno-Coaching services to other student athletes and continued to build on the school’s reputation for years after.

To me, this example and others are proof that Mindful Toughness ® skillsets work to improve peak performance not only in sports, performing arts, business, health, and academics, but in life, whether you have the diagnosis of ADHD or not. Learning these techniques at an early age is even better for long-term success and is a form of primary prevention of mental disorders during a devastating mental health crisis of our youth.

If you have enjoyed and benefitted from this blog, you can learn more about my peak performance coaching practice on my website, https://www.idealperformance.net and about my book: Wrestling Through Adversity: Empowering Children, Teens, & Young Adults To Win In Life, on https://www.drchristinesilverstein.com.

The book is available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and Audiobook. It contains other case stories of interest from my practice and details on how to use Mindful Toughness® skillsets to improve your performance and meet your goals. The Amazon page contains many interesting reviews that enumerate the value the book holds for these readers.

I invite you to follow me on my Facebook page, The Summit Center for Ideal Performance and subscribe to my educational YouTube channel, The Young Navigator, to meet me face-to-face.